What is an AV TV? A beginner’s guide

The term AV TV refers to a 1980s-2000s TV protocol using which external devices such as DVD players, VCRs, and game consoles could be connected. This standard has long since been replaced by HDMI.

What is an AV TV?

Before the introduction of the AV TV, televisions could only accept coaxial or radio TV signals. External devices such as DVD players or VCRs could not be connected to them easily.

AV TVs, which first started appearing in the 1980s, introduced an analog input using RCA cables. The maximum supported resolution was only SD, but content looked good on TVs of that era.

How did AV TVs work?

In addition to a coaxial input, AV TVs had an RCA input. You would plug in a yellow cable for video, and red and white cables for stereo audio. The signals were purely analogue but the tech was cutting edge at the time.

Benefits of AV TV

The biggest of AV TVs when they were introduced was that viewers could use the TV as an external display. This opened up an entirely new market for home video, VCR and DVD rentals, and of course, video game consoles.

Before AV TV, people had to use RF composite cables that had very poor sound and video quality.

FAQs

Q. Are AV TVs still available?
A. Some TVs still offer RCA input for plugging in legacy hardware. These are very rare, though, as HDMI took over decades ago.

Q. What replaced AV TV?
A. LCD tech and the shift to digital input, notably HDMI, is what killed AV TV. Analog inputs were simply not needed anymore.

AV TV tech died decades ago, but you can still find inputs on some TV models. The AV TV connectors are only present to support outdated media formats such as VCR and DVD.